1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to a bottle manipulation device and more particularly to a handle that is attachable and removable from a bottle for facilitating manipulation of the bottle.
2. State of the Art
Handles and other holding and manipulating devices have been developed over the years for the purpose of facilitating handling of bottles. These devices have been used, in particular, for facilitating pouring from the bottles with the aid of a grip or handle portion that is easily grasped by a user's hand. Some bottles and other containers are easily grasped without the aid of such a handle or manipulation device. Other bottles are more difficult to handle and call for such a handle to be employed.
Of particular interest in this field, are the two liter bottles that are often used to store and dispense soft drinks. These two liter bottles are particularly challenging to handle because of the thin sidewalls that are often slippery. This is especially true when the user's hands are greasy or wet, in which case the bottle can easily slip from the user's grasp and be spilled.
One of the disadvantages that results from manipulation of the two liter soft drink bottles is that when the lid is on the bottle and the sidewalls are squeezed, the pressure in the bottle fluctuates and thereby causes loss of carbonation of the soft drink. Furthermore, both when the lid is on and when the lid is off the bottle, the agitation of the soft drink caused by the collapsing sidewalls also causes loss of carbonation.
Also, during pouring of the soft drink the center of gravity of the bottle and its contents shifts toward the neck of the two liter bottle. In response to the shifting weight a user's hand will naturally grip the sidewalls with a greater force to prevent loss of control of the bottle. The result is often an inadvertent sloshing out of the contents similar to the squeezing out of toothpaste or some other liquid, (or semi-liquid), product from a tube. The soft drink is sloshed out from the two liter bottle similar, in this case, to contents dispensed from a container that is intended to be a squeeze bottle. Thus, the two liter bottles may have the disadvantage of causing spills or otherwise causing the soft drink to pour out too fast when a user tries to manipulate the bottle with one hand. This problem may be improved by using two hands on the two liter bottle. On the other hand, using two hands to pour from a two liter bottle is not always convenient or possible. Therefore, many efforts have been made to form bottle manipulation devices including attachable handles for controlling two liter bottles during pouring. Some of these handles are more effective than others. Some are complex, and others are relatively simple. However, it is believed that all of the bottle manipulation devices and detachable handles of the past are deficient in providing the advantages of the present invention. Many of the advantages of the present invention are not fully realized by the devices of the past.